American credibility takes a nose-dive as Abu Mazen calls it a day

The American/Israeli axis of power, domination and subjugation of Palestine has suffered a humiliating slap in the face from one of their most trusted allies in the Occupied Territories: Abu Mazen.

The Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas who is also known as Abu Mazen has decided to throw in the towel. Whether it’s a strategic move or not, though Abbas insists its not, it does impact on America’s bona fides as a ‘honest broker’.

The sting lies not as much in his announcement to abandon seeking a second term as PA chief but in the reasons cited:

“The failure of ‘peace talks’ with Israel and its refusal to end the occupation that started in 1967”.

In addition, he cited America’s embrace of Israeli rejectionism, especially with regard to Jewish settlement expansion and that despite the PA meeting “all our commitments and obligations”, Israel continued to steal Palestinian land to build Jewish settlements.

Harsh as it may be, the criticism leveled against his Western sponsor does not absolve Abu Mazen for his role as a supine quisling in perpetuating the suffering of his people, according to Palestinian journalist Khalid Amayreh.

“Indeed, from the very inception of his ‘presidency’, Abbas sought to appease the Israelis and the Americans in ways that seriously undermined Palestinian national dignity, making our enemy and its guardian-ally overseas view the PA leadership as a quisling entity”, wrote Amayreh.

In his critique of the Abbas leadership, Amayreh said that Abu Mazen’s sins are not confined to the post-2006 election plots and machinations against Hamas. He blames him too for conniving with Israel during the “Nazi-like onslaught against Gaza when the PA hoped that the Jewish Wehrmacht would finish off Hamas” and restore the Strip to the Ramallah Junta on a silver platter.

His stupidity, naivety and misplaced trust of Israeli intentions got him where he is now. “He has none but himself to blame” according to Amayreh.

American policy vis-à-vis Israel is known for remaining unchanged. Hillary Clinton has just affirmed it as such. As the Israeli commentator Yitzhak Laor pointed out in a recent article in Haaretz, regardless of whether there is a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, the United States became a distinctly pro-Israel world power after the 1967 war. It has no intention of being a “balanced mediator” when it comes to the conflict with the Palestinians. [1]

In the aftermath of Abbas’ retreat from the so-called “peace process” and Clinton’s public praise for Netanyahu’s “unprecedented” attitude toward continued Jewish settlement expansion, perhaps the best piece of advice came from John V Whitbeck, an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team.

Though, he proposes the end of 2010 as a final deadline, which prolongs Palestinian suffering for another year, he does advocate the only choice would be to seek justice and freedom through democracy. This means full rights of citizenship in a single state in all of Israel/Palestine, free of any discrimination based on race or religion and with equal rights for all who live there as in any true democracy.

Note:

[1]. Israel’s apartheid is worse than South Africa’s
by Yitzhak Laor, November 8, 2009, Haaretz Newspaper
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126602.html